Packaging heavy, legged articles



- May 9,194 -H. J. LACY, 20., ET AL 2,348,483

v PACKAGING HEAVY, LEGGED ARTICLES Filed Aug. 20, 1941 2 Sheets-Shet 1 wfi i BY may E7- aka/916% ATTORNEY) y 1944. H. J. LACY, 20., ET AL PACKAGING HEAVY, LEGGED ARTICLES FiledfAug. 20, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATrdRNEYS Patented May 9, 1944 PACKAGING HEAVY, LEGGED ARTICLES Howard J. Lacy, II, and Elmer C. Slaughter, Indianapolis, Ind'., assignors to U. S. Corrugated Fibre Box Company, Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application August 20, 1941, Serial Ndiomszz 8 Claims.

- Heretofore heavy legged articles, such as office desks, chairs, washing machines, etc., having horizontally extending elements between the legs comparatively near to the lower ends thereof, have been packaged in Wooden crates with the finish of the article protected by paper or burlap Wrappings and, in many instances, the lower ends of the legs have been connected by temporary horizontal members generally incorporated as elements of the enclosing crate. Such a package is heavy and relatively expensive and oftentimes,

during transportation, the wrappingsbecome punctured by elements which mar the finish of the article without leaving readily noticeable openings in thewrappings so that the receiver of the package is not forewarned of possible finish marrin'gs. The cost of shipping such a package is relatively great because of the unavoidable weight and the space occupied thereby.

The object of our present invention. is to provide a completely enclosing corrugated paper carton for such articles supplemented by corrugated paper supporting elements and filler elements of such character that when the article is enveloped and supported within thecarton, the completed package will be of such character as to successfully withstand the heaviest transportation shocks to which it may be subjected and of such character that if it has been. subjected to forces which probably resulted in injury to the finish of the article, the package will present such an appearance as to givereadily discernible notice ofithe probability of such marring.

' The accompanying drawings illustrate our invention as incorporated in a package containing a legged desk of that common type which comprises two parallel drawer cabinets and a connecting top. l l

s Fig. 1 is a plan oi such a package with the portions of the outer carton normally parallelin thetop of the article in open position;

.Fig. .2 is a similar plan of the carton inverted; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 3.-.3 ofFig. 1 but on a larger scale;

,Fig. 4 aperspective view of one of the corner filler elements; k

.Eig. 5 a perspective view of one of. the weight carrying, elements with the parts thereof separated; 1 l 1 I Fig. 6 is a perspective view ofa modified form of weight supporting element; and

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of one of the por tions of a corner filler element with the parts in partially folded positions.

In the drawings Ill, ll] indicate the side walls,

H, H end walls, l2, 12 side wall top flaps, l3, l3 end wall top flaps, l4, l4 side wall bottom flaps, and I5, l5 end wall bottom flaps conveniently formed of one or more sheets of corrugated paper of such size as to receive the desired article 20, preferably with about one inch clearance all around.

We provide corner filler elements composed of two or more nested elements of the character illustrated in Fig. 7. These elements are formed. of asingle piece of corrugated paper folded along a medial line 2| to form two legs 22, 23 lying at right angles to each other. At one end leg 2215 provided with a similar fiap 25, foldable along fold lines 253 to positions at right angles to the respective planes of the legs 22 and 23 with one fiap overlying the other in planes at right angles to the two planes of the legs 22 and 23. Depending upon the character of the article to be packaged, two or more of such elements may be nested to gether,.as shown in Fig. 4, and one of such units is placed over each corner of the table top after the table has been placed in the carton. The top flaps of the carton are then folded over and secured in place and the package inverted. In this position the top of the table or other article is supported by the overlying flaps 24, and 25 of the corner filler units and spaced from the top flaps of the carton a distance equal to the number of thicknesses of said corner filler flaps.

In order to support and protect the legged end of the article, a plurality of elements such as those illustrated in Figs. 5 or 6 may be used.

In Fig. 5., 30 indicates a strip of corrugated paper of desired width and length with the ends 3|, 3| folded on fold line 32, 32 to positions at right angles to the plane of the main body of the sheet and each of said ends is slotted at 33, 33 conveniently to one-half the height of said folded ends. A similar sheet of corrugated paper 35 has its ends 36, 36 similarly folded on fold lines 31, 31

as is illustrated, where each pedestal end is provided with three legs, 43, 4| and 42, the weight supporting element just described has its part soproportioned that the width of strip 35 will fit snugly between legs 53 and M in contact with the bottom 30 of the desk and extending across the fore-and-aft dimensions of the desk and there- The depth of the unit composed of the two element 30, 35, when assembled, will be somewhat 1,0. tirely of corrugated paper and containing articles Conveniently, the end walls of the main carton, near their tops, may be provided with hand holes which will facilitate handling the completed carton.

We have found that the package of the abovedescribed character containing an ordinary oflice desk may be readily handled, because of its comparative lightness, and that it'may be even rolled down a flight of stairs without damage to the desk so that the package, although composed en- ;weighing several hundred pounds, nevertheless greater than the extent of the leg below the plane of the article bottom 30 or any horizontally extending leg connecting element which connects the legs adjacent the lower ends thereof. This distance will, of course, vary with the character of the article which is being packaged and may, in some instances, be as much or perhaps a little more than half the total height of the article being packaged. -Instead of weight supporting elements of the character shown in Fig. 5, we may use elements such as are shown in Fig. 6. Here a strip of corrugated paper 50 has its ends 5i folded to positions at right angles to the plane of the main body 50 onfold lines 52, 52 and these ends 51 are vertically slotted at 33 as in Fig. 5. A companion member 55 with one end 56 folded on fold line 51 is slotted at 33, 33 so as to mate with the slots 33 of the element 50 with the free edge 56' of portion 55 resting on the inner surface of portion 50, portion 55 resting upon the ends of portions 5| 5|. I-Iere also the. total depth of the unit 50-55 will be such as to be slightly greater than the projection of the leg of the article to be packaged below the lowermost connecting horizontal member.

For a purpose which will appear, we prefer to form the slot 33 in one of the ends 5! at a greater distance from the adjacent edge of said end than the spacing of the companion slot 33 in the other end 5|.

Closely adjacent the fold line 51 the main body 55is pierced by a plurality of X-incision 6!] which thus form four triangular flaps El, 6| between which a leg of the article to be packaged may be projected and, in order to make this unit readily adaptable for use in various positions, the

main body of sheet 59 closely adjacent the inner surface of part 56 of sheet 55 will be similarly incised" to provide a plurality of leg receiving openings in sheet 513. These last-named incisions may, in some instances, be aligned with the incisions B6 in sheet 55.

.Weight supporting elements of the character shown in Fig.6 may be associated with the article being packaged, with a leg of that article in the open corner between the adjacent projected ends of parts 5! and 55, as shown at A (Fig. 2) or in the position shown at B (Fig. 2), where one of the legs of the article is projected through one of the incisions 60 and, in that'event, the weight supporting filler, because of relationship of the slots 33 already described, may be set at a slight angle to the horizontal dimension of the article being packaged.

After the weight supporting element have been placed in position as described; corner filler elements of the character shown in Fig. 3 are placed in position over the ends of any of the legs which may be exposed, whereupon the bottom flaps of the main carton are folded and. secured in place. .The completed'carton may then be reverted.

meets all of the shipping requirements of common carriers. v

Such a package is much lighter than crates now ordinarily used, the legs are so thoroughly protected that no shipping stresses can be transmitted thereto in such way as to wrack the furniture or break the legs and the several walls of the enclosing carton are so distantly spaced from the article that no damage can occur to the finish or construction of the article except as a result of such a puncture of the walls of the carton as would inevitably be immediately noticed so that the receiver would be put upon his guard in ac cepting receipt of the package.

Through the use of corner pads and weight sup,- porting elements in the manner disclosed, it is possible to use cartons of uniform size to accommodate articles of various sizes within the capacity of the carton.

.The air space which is insured entirely around the article very materially reduces the possibility of cracking of the finish of the article.

Heavy articles for which the above-described structures are primarily designed have heretofore been quite generally enclosed in part or whole by excelsior packing and burlap wrappings often en closed in wooden crates. Such packages not only provide a distinct fire hazard but also are of such character that when once opened for inspection of the enclosed articles cannot be readily reassembled for reshipment. Our package, on the contrary,-is of such character that it can be readily opened for inspection of the enclosed articles and readily reclosed for reshipment.

We claim as our invention:

lJA filler and cushion unit for inclusion in a carton with a packaged article, comprising two sheets of corrugated paper each folded on an intermediate fold line to form two portions at right angles to each other with one portion of each sheet slotted at an intermediate point in its length inwardly toward but not to a fold line and the twov sheets interlocked at their slots so that a free edge of each sheet overlies and bottoms on an inner surface of a companion sheet.

2. A filler and cushion unit for inclusion in a carton with a packaged article, comprising two sheets ofcorrugated paper, one sheet having its opposite ends upturned and each upturned end slotted at an intermediate point in its length inwardly toward a fold line, and the other sheet folded on an intermediate fold line and one end inwardly slotted toward but not to the fold line at two points intermediate its-length and registerable with the slots of the first-mentioned sheet, one edge of the second-mentioned sheet overlying and bottoming on an inner surface of the first-mentioned sheet, and one portion of the second-mentioned sheet resting upon the ends of the two upturned ends of the first-mentioned sheet.

.3". A filler and cushion unit as specified in claim 2,"wherein an unslotted portion of one sheet is incised adjacent a fold line by crossed incisions permitting projection therethrough of an article leg.

4. A filler and cushion unit for inclusion in a carton with a packaged article, comprising two interlocked sheets of corrugated paper, each sheet having its ends folded in the same direction on intermediate fold lines and each of said ends being inwardly slotted at an intermediate point in its length toward but not to a fold line by two slots, the free ends of each sheet overlying and bottoming on an inner face of the companion sheet.

5. A package comprising a carton of corrugated paper, a legged article therein having horizontally extending elements between the legs substantially below the top of the article, and a unit of corrugated paper interposed between legs of the article and between such horizontally extending elements and a wall of the carton and supporting the weight of said article adjacent a 1eg of the article, said unit being composed of two sheets of corrugated paper as specified in claim 1.

6. A package comprising a carton of corrugated paper, a legged article therein having horizontally extending elements between the legs substantially below the top of the article, and a unit of corrugated paper interposed between legs of the article and between such horizontally extending elements and a wall of the carton and supporting the weight of said articleadjacent a leg of the article, said unit being composed of two sheets of corrugated paper as specified in claim 2.

'l. A package comprising a cartonof corrugated paper, a legged article therein having horizontally extending elements between the legs substantially below the top of the article, and a unit of corrugated paper interposed betwen legs of the article and between such horizontally extendin elements and a wall of the carton and supporting the weight of said article adjacent a leg of the article, said unit being composed of two sheets of corrugated paper as specified in claim 4.

8. A package comprising a carton of corrugated paper, an article therein comprising a main body and projecting legs, and a weight-supporting unit of corrugated paper comprising two interlocked members, the first member having its opposite endsbent to positions at right angles to the medial part thereof and each slotted at an inermediate point in its length toward but not to said medial part, and the second member folded along an intermediate line to present two portions at right angles to each other, one of said portions being slotted at two points intermediate its length toward but not to the other portion and interlocked at said slotted points with the slotted points of the first member, and the other portion of said second member overlying the upturned- '0 through said incisions.

HOWARD J. LACY, II. ELMER C. SLAUGHTER. 

